Toasted Homemade Muesli with a Hint of Sweetness

All of a sudden I felt like some homemade muesli, the last batch I made was probably a long time ago...

This time I want my muesli to have a hint of sweetness to it, although I know it means a few more calories!!! =P Usually i would only use apple juice to mix up with the oats, nuts and seeds (see Toasted Homemade Muesli) but this time I tried to add some maple syrup into it to give it more crunch and sweetness!

Ingredients:

2 cup rolled oats

dried fruit, diced (a mix of whatever you like, I used dates, apricot and cranberries)

half pack mixed seeds (approx. 70g)

handful of almonds

1/4 cup of canola oil

1/8 cup of maple syrup

1. Heat the oil and maple syrup together in a small pot over medium heat until they are combined thoroughly.

2. Mix together the oats, seeds and almonds in a bowl, then pour the heated oil mixture into the oats mixture, and stir to combine.

3. Spread the mixture evenly on a baking tray lined with baking paper.

4. Toast it in a pre-heated oven for 20 min at 200C or until golden brown.

5. Cool on tray, and the mixture will become crunchy!

6. Mix in dried fruit.

If you want, you can actually toast the dried fruit together with the oats, but I like it a bit more juicy, so I tend to mix it in after the oats is toasted. And if you don't have the maple syrup handy at home, just substitute it with honey, although you'll get a slightly different flavour, but still good I reckon!

After the tray of toasted muesli rested, hubby and I just dug in straight away!!! ummm... and it was about mid-night... not really healthy to eat at this time of the night when we were just about to go to bed! But we just couldn't resist the golden colour of the muesli, and the beautiful smell from the maple syrup, also the crunchiness was awesome! You would just want to reach out your hand and grab another handful while you're crunching away the muesli in your mouth!

This is just a healthy snack that you can just eat straight or with a dollop of yoghurt and some sliced banana and strawberries! Strawberries are in season at the moment, and I've seen them going for $1.50 per punnet at Coles and Woolies or $1 if you're willing to go to flemington market for a field trip!